I'm changing the steering system on my 1948 Desoto Suburban (9
passenger, 4800
pound vehicle) from the original pitman arm steering to rack and
pinion steering.
I purchased a rebuilt back-steer rack and pinion (45" long) that was
for a
1995-2005 Chevy Cavalier or Pontiac Sunfire. I built the mounting
housing, new
steering shaft, new power hoses from the pump, and new tie rod ends.
I still
have to cut one side of the motor mount (1" x 2") off to make room for
the
double D U-joint coupler so the rack can turn (not done yet).
I found the travel on the rack is only 2.5" on each side. This does
not give
me enough turning angles on the wheels (I need at least 4").
A couple of solutions I thought of are:
* To get a rack from some other vehicle (maybe a truck) that would
have more
then 4" travel on each side. Trouble is - I don't know which trucks
would have
this type of rack.
or
* To make a shorter steering arm for the existing Desoto but I would
have to
find a shop that could do this and I don't know if this would
compromise safety
as the tie rod ends and the rack will carry more stress when
turning.
Would anyone have suggestions on other ways to (safely) resolve this?
I can
email pictures of the steering configuration.
